No. 9 BYU finally broke through their first win on Blue Turf in Boise on Friday night, and the Cougars did so in a convincing fashion with a 51-17 win over the No. 21 Broncos. The win improved BYU to 8–0 as the Cougars continue to build on the Black Horse nomination for the College Football Playoff with a statistically dominant effort against the best opponent in their schedule for 2020.
The Cougars beat Boise State 573-310 while giving the Bronco their worst home defeat since their 2001 loss to Washington State. An injury to Boise State midfielder Jack Sears resulted in the Broncos returning 2-1 because they were already without current midfielder Hank Bashmeyer. With the best midfielders knocked out, the Boise State turned into rookies Kid Finnegan and Andy Peters. Finnegan eventually finds Khalil Shaker to make a pair of landings in the fourth quarter to give Boise State some life.
By that point, however, BYU had already amassed a prolific attacking performance. Quarterback Zach Wilson connected in 21 of 27 passes for 359 yards without interception while he crossed the 2,500-yard pass for this season. The win was particularly meaningful to Wilson and other BYU VIPs who were part of a dramatic 21-16 loss at Boise in 2018. This defeat dropped BYU down to 0-5 all-time in road matches against Boise State, with three of those Losses come with one point.
Odds makers expected another one-possession match Friday night with BYU entering the start as a favorite 4.5 points. But the Boys State’s visions of defeating the top-ranked opponent at Albertsons Stadium since the Broncos joined the football division in 1996 faded rapidly. Tyler Allgier ran 86 yards to land in BYU’s second offensive game, hit Sears soon after and the Cougars roared the rest of the way.
BYU’s next match is November 21 against North Alabama of the FCS. The Cougars are scheduled to conclude their list of 10 games against San Diego on December 12.
